NIU football: Moving on up

NIU has gone 11-3, 11-3 and 12-2 its last three football seasons, and brings back eight starters on offense and five on defense from the first Mid-American Conference team to play in the Orange Bowl last year. The Huskies are in a unique position as they begin spring practice Wednesday; this may be their one chance to beco...

None of Northern Illinois’ starting offensive linemen returned last year.

All five will this fall.

“All the way down to high school, I’ve never had an entire O-line back,” first-year coach Rod Carey said. “It’s a unique opportunity.”

Not just for the line.

Last year was the greatest season in NIU history. For any sport. The Huskies, picked second in their division of the Mid-American Conference, repeated as MAC champs and went to the Orange Bowl.

The question now is: Was the first BCS bowl by a MAC team the crowning achievement of a football program that has been strong for more than a decade?

Or is this just the start?

Kentucky can miss the NCAA basketball tournament this year and win it next year. Notre Dame can go from decades of mediocrity to the BCS title game overnight. But those are storied names in college sports, names where one great season can instantly polish off the worst tarnish.

NIU’s name outside MAC circles is three months old. But the Huskies take the field for their first spring practice today in DeKalb with five returning starters on defense and eight on offense, including record-setting quarterback Jordan Lynch.

NIU finished last season ranked in the Top 25 for the first time ever and should also be in the preseason rankings for the first time. This is a unique opportunity for the Huskies to become annual BCS contenders.

“That’s probably fair,” Carey said. “But this isn’t the only opportunity you’re ever going to have. I’m not going to minimize what’s been done around here for 10 years by saying this year is it. It’s not.”

Yes it is.

Those previous 10 years got NIU to this spot, with coaches Joe Novak, Jerry Kill and Dave Doeren laying the groundwork. But it’s now time to either keep building or accept 11-3 MAC title-winning seasons as NIU’s ceiling.

BCS crashers don’t come out of nowhere. Boise State went 45-7 the four years before it beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. TCU had seven 10-win seasons in 10 years before getting invited to the Fiesta and Rose Bowls — and then the Big 12.

The Huskies are one failed fourth-and-20 stop against Miami of Ohio away from three straight MAC titles. They are not where Boise State and TCU were; the Broncos and Horned Frogs beat their BCS foes in their bowl, while NIU lost to Florida State.

But, with so many of their best starters back, NIU could get there this year.

If they don’t, don’t expect the door to remain open. It didn’t for Illini basketball.

The 1989 Flyin’ Illini went to the Final Four, but won only one NCAA Tournament game in the next seven years and Lou Henson was fired. The 2005 Illini went 37-2, won their fourth Big Ten title in a row and reached the NCAA title game. But Bruce Weber couldn’t turn that run into recruiting gold. The Illini won only one NCAA Tournament game in the next five years and fell to ninth in the Big Ten three years after their great run.

Page 2 of 2 - Weber missed his great chance. So did Henson. TCU and Boise State cashed in.

This chance isn’t going to come again. Not like this. NIU might even have its first sold-out home season at Huskie Stadium.

“We have the same expectations of our fans as our fans have of us,” Carey said. “We expect that place to be filled.”

Huskie dreams have grown far bigger in just a few months.

But those dreams need to be fed. NIU has risen to the top of the MAC by making stars of under-recruited players such as Michael Turner, Garrett Wolfe, Larry English, Justin McCareins, Chandler Harnish and Jordan Lynch.

But BCS busters with staying power get top recruits to believe in them, too.

Boise State had six NFL draft picks last year, tied for fourth behind Alabama, Oklahoma and Georgia, including two first-round picks. TCU had five draft picks in 2011, including Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.

“Our view isn’t to get back,” Carey said of crashing the BCS again. “Our view is to do what we’ve been doing around here for a long time.”

Sorry. That’s not enough. Not anymore.

“Our expectations,” offensive lineman Matt Krempel said, “are going to continue to go higher and higher as we keep reaching more and more of our goals.”

That’s life as a non-blueblood college program: When the arrow is pointing up, you’d better keep going up. Or you go down.